List of films in 'Special Section - The Migrant Stories' films of Diorama International Film Festival 2019
Life In A Shadow directed by Mohammed Faizal (71 Mins / Hindi / India / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
This film deeply explores the unheard voices and stories of refugees from various countries who live in India. The film not only speaks about their everyday challenges ranging from identity, political suppressions, inequality/ inequity, etc. but also how they were forcefully pushed out of their motherlands and ultimately how they have actually become to be living as refugees.
On the other side of the film also shows when the lives of these refugees are shattered in complete despair, how India as a country treats and deals with the refugee people and their situations.
Does India actually stand with these people and help in lighting a hope to rebuild these lives or just shelter them from their actual problem?
Never Forever (Mai Per Sempre) directed by Fabio Massa (85 Mins / Italian / Italy / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
"Never Forever" is a story of friendship, of love, of an eternal and atavistic struggle between good and evil, between the cones of light and the areas of shadows that can coexist in the life of each of us. It is Luca's life: a young man who, despite the comfort of his family, prefers to break his back in a machine shop that he owns far away from Naples, where he grew up and where Luca’s mother Silvana still lives with her new husband, Saverio, a prestigious lawyer, of whom Luca does not share in Saverio’s evil way of being and doing. The young man is engaged to be married to Maria, a Ukrainian woman, who is a few years older. The two are making plans for having a child and forming a real family. Still, happiness seems to be an elusive project. Evil appears, creeps in and destroys.
Rabia And Olivia directed by Shadab Khan (86 Mins / English, Hindi / Canada / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
The story revolves around a 24-year-old Indian Muslim girl Rabia who has migrated to Canada illegally and seeks refugee status who, at a very young age, became a victim and lost her father in Communal riots in India. On the other side, we see nine-year-old Olivia, a Canadian girl child, who lost her mother a few years back and is now living with her father Mark in Canada. Olivia is suffering from a night terror attack disorder due to which she wakes up in the night and starts crying uncontrollably. Due to this problem, she has been constantly put on sedatives by her doctor. As a result, she remains in a very aggressive and agitated mood during the day time which is the main reason most of her caretakers (nannies) have left their jobs as they were unable the pressure of handling her. In this scenario, in a desperate need for employment, Rabia takes up the job of being Olivia’s caretaker. From here on, we see the journey of the bond developing between Rabia and Olivia. Rabia’s participation in Olivia’s life gradually proves to be miraculous as under Rabia’s care, Olivia’s condition shows remarkable improvements and she starts becoming a much peaceful, happy and bright child. And inadvertently, the caretaker-patient equation transforms into a mother-child equation with great love and affection between the two.
Until, due to a shattering turn of events, Rabia get ls arrested in child negligence case files by Olivia's father and Rabia gets arrested. Olivia’s condition deteriorates to a level much worse than ever before. Finally, she has to be hospitalized. As Olivia’s health falls to the lowest point, shaken up by her pathetic plight, Rabia’s friends Ishaan and Nasir embark upon a highly challenging mission. They start an Online campaign of appeal to the Canadians and others for the justice to Rabia. The intensity and fire in their efforts are so overwhelming that gradually more and more people join them in support of their noble mission. Ultimately, on the grounds of humanity, media, politicians and common people come together in the form of humanity.
Will Olivia and Rabia meet again once again and be able to receive motherly love from Rabia?
Sawah directed by Adolf El Assal (86 Mins / Arabic, English, French / Luxembourg / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
Samir’s (Karim Kassem) dream to take part in a prestigious DJ championship in Brussels is shattered to pieces when his flight is redirected to Luxembourg because of a major strike in Belgium. The real adventure begins when he loses all his papers and gets mistaken for a refugee. The colourful film shows DJ Skaarab’s adventures and new encounters on the way to recover his identity.
Second Future (Zweite Zukunft) directed by Abdullah Rajab Almalla (86 Mins / Arabic, German / Germany / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
War, flight, loss and a new life in Germany with challenges that keep shifting… That’s the life of Amir, a young Syrian trying to find a second home in Germany and build a second future in peace and safety.
To Go Or Not To Go directed by Reza Golchin, Alborz Poursayad (70 Mins / Persian / Iran / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
Immigration is the international movement of people into a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle or reside there, especially as permanent residents or naturalized citizens, or to take up employment as a migrant worker or temporarily as a foreign worker. This film is about immigration. Four stories are narrated in parallel.
Yara directed by Renato Giugliano (23 Mins / Arabic, German, Kurdish / Switzerland / 2019 / The Migrant Stories)
The world of twelve-year-old Isaf is turned upside down when he discovers Yara hiding in his attic. Despite some initial distrust, the boy and the traumatized Syrian refugee girl become friends. Eventually, the authorities arrive and destroy any hope for a happy future together.
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